Question for writers? Why poetry?

Active Ink Slinger

0 likes 13 Jan 2013

I find it interesting that the overwhelming majority of pieces on this site seem to be poetry. Has anyone else noticed this? And, more to the point, has anyone else besides me wondered why? Are writers in general under the impression that it is easier to write poetry than prose? Are some writers on here afraid to try writing dialogue? These are just some thoughts I have had, and wondered what other members here think.

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Colors_of_the_Wind

Active Ink Slinger

0 likes 13 Jan 2013

Well, at least for me... When I have an idea, but it's too small to really make a story out of, I write it into a poem. You'll see that some of my poems are like tiny stories. Poetry is also a lot easier to make... strong, I guess. That's the only way to say it. It's easier to put a lot of emotion into something really small than, say, a novel or novella or even a flash fiction piece, or to portray the importance of something.. For example, I write a lot of awareness pieces, and many are in poem form just because ... prose is more difficult to get the idea across.

However, I do enjoy 6-word stories. Unfortunately, I can't actually submit those anymore. They portrayed any emotion really well. Especially fear. You would not think so few words could, but for some things, the fewer the words the better.

Hope that helps a little biggrin

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Circle_Something

Forum Facilitator

0 likes 13 Jan 2013

My poetry is less poetry, more random bits stuck together in a semi-poetic freeform... thingy... Whether it works, well, that's debatable. Why do I do it? Sometimes when feelings are messed up, loved up or just plain extreme, poetry is the only way to convey them. I wouldn't say it's easy, just another way of self expression, really.

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DirtyMartini

Rest in Peace

0 likes 12 Apr 2013

Quote by DLizze
Are writers in general under the impression that it is easier to write poetry than prose?

I think to a certain extent that's true, and I think it's very true among people who have never actually written a poem...I know for myself, I often end up spending a lot more time writing a poem than I do a story...a lot of that time is spent sort of sitting and staring into space though, something I'm fairly good at btw...

There is definitely less typing involved with poems, and I think that offers a certain appeal...and you don't actually need a computer handy, you can write out a poem on the back of a bar napkin for instance, and don't ask me how I know that btw...but, that might account for the appeal of poems to some...

Personally, I think poems offer a whole different set of challenges...and "poetry" itself is such a broad topic...poems can rhyme, not rhyme, have all sorts of different forms...prose is rather straightforward I think by comparison...

Most of my poems in the past have been fairly traditional rhyming poems...I intend to deviate from that more in the future, and that to me presents a big challenge...so, for me at least, it's more or less something different...

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